What follows is a message from Albert Ogle, VP of National Affairs for Integrity USA as posted this evening on Walking With Integrity. As you may know, Bishop Senyonjo visited the New York area this past June, speaking at St. Luke in the Fields and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. This article is also of additional interest, as Bishop Sisk of New York has addressed concerns related to Bishop Senyonjo's safety to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

"100 Top Homos - hang them"When Bishop Christopher Senyonjo’s picture showed up on the front page of a Ugandan paper under the headline, “100 Top Homos - hang them,” Integrity supporters of the bishop and his work became ever more concerned about the growing climate of homophobia in Uganda.

Other LGBT leaders were also targeted and Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) has been providing emergency counseling and shelter for some of the victims of this latest wave of public violence.

The inflammatory story in “Rolling Stone” (no connection to the USA version) was published just as I returned from a visit to Uganda with Pastor Joseph Tolton of The Fellowship in New York. I quickly made contact with the bishop and his staff. So far, they are all safe and are asking for our prayers. I now try to communicate with him on a daily basis.

The Civil Society Coalition of 34 partner organizations
Our trip to Uganda was very productive and informative. Organizers in Uganda, including Integrity Uganda, have formed a Civil Society Coalition of 34 partner organizations. This coalition successfully challenged the “Rolling Stone” in Ugandan courts and it was mandated to close its doors. The coalition will also consider additional legal strategies and will make all legal resources available to stop this latest phase of the anti-gay witch hunt which appears to have support from some American based churches.

Bishop of New York expresses concern
Earlier this week the Rt. Rev. Mark Sisk, Bishop of New York, wrote a private letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury expressing his concern that Bishop Senyonjo had been so publically targeted in the newspaper. Sadly, the Archbishop has remained silent on this. Instead, he voiced his concern about the election and consecration of Mary Douglas Glasspool as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Here's what he had to say:

“The decision of the American Church to go forward, as it has, with the ordination of a lesbian bishop has, I think, set us back. At the moment I'm not certain how we will approach the next primates' meeting, but regrettably some of the progress that I believe we had made has not remained steady. Alongside that, and I think this is important, while the institutions of the Communion struggle, in many ways the mutual life of the Communion, the life of exchange and co-operation between different parts of our Anglican family, is quite strong and perhaps getting stronger. It's a paradox”.

No outrage from African fellow bishops
Yes, well, here's what I find as a paradox: that a photograph of heterosexual bishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda appears on the front cover of a magazine with the headline: "Hang Them" without any outrage from his fellow bishops. This story made international news, was reported on CNN, in the UK and in the Washington Post, yet, no-one within Anglican Church leadership circles rose to his defense, except Bishop Sisk.

Bishop Christopher Senyonjo of Uganda continues to speak out. He will return to America in November
Regardless of his lack of church support, Bishop Christopher continues to preach an inclusive gospel of a loving God to everyone, including his enemies. Please keep him and his persecuted community in your prayers. Write to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Let him know of your support for Bishop Christopher and ask him to join all of us in respecting the dignity of every human being.

You will also have another opportunity to support the brave bishop and his work. Bishop Christopher will soon return to the United States along with his wife Mary (an equally brave and courageous leader who has watched their beloved Church of Uganda’s behavior towards her family). They will arrive in California on November 14th and will be visiting New Orleans (December 5th at St. Anne’s) Atlanta (St. Bartholomew’s on December 12th) and will have two consultative meetings in New York and Washington DC around immigration and asylum issues for the USA around LGBT people. For more information on his visit and an update on the difficult legal situation he and his friends are facing, stay posted or join his Facebook page.

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Founded in 1992 in Latin America, Other Sheep is a multicultural ecumenical Christian ministry that works worldwide for the full inclusion of LGBT people of faith within their respective faith traditions. Our motto is ". . . connecting people with people and people with resources . . . "

For about 5-7 weeks within the months of July and August of 2007 and 2008, Steve Parelli and Jose Ortizof Other Sheep visited East Africa. As a result, clergy and lay leaders of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, some of whom were already propagating the message of LGBT inclusion, were introduced to one another through Steve and Jose and in turn have come together to network and further the message of hope to the oppressed community of religious LGBT Africans. Other Sheep is a vehicle they use to raise their voices together on "faith and LGBT concerns."